Metadata Reporting Standards
Deterministic Barcoding in Tissue for spatial omics sequencing (DBiT-seq)
DBiT-seq simultaneously maps mRNA transcripts and protein expression within intact tissue sections using microfluidic co-delivery of DNA barcodes. Spatially indexed barcodes are deposited in a deterministic grid pattern onto the tissue, capturing both RNA and antibody-DNA conjugates, which are subsequently sequenced to yield co-registered transcriptomic and proteomic profiles. This approach provides paired spatial gene expression and protein abundance data at near-cellular, pixel resolution.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35079/HBM425.GDQX.743
Published: August 28, 2026
Schema
* Required
| Attribute | Type | Description | Allowable Values |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent sample ID * | The unique identifier from HuBMAP or SenNet for the sample (such as a block, section, or suspension) used to perform the assay. For instance, in an RNAseq assay, the parent sample would be the suspension, while in imaging assays, it would be the tissue section. If the assay is derived from multiple parent samples, this field should contain a comma-separated list of identifiers. Example: HBM386.ZGKG.235, HBM672.MKPK.442 | ||
| Lab ID | A locally assigned identifier provided by the data provider for the dataset. It is used to reference an external metadata record that may be maintained independently, enabling traceability and supporting provenance tracking. Example: Visium_9OLC_A4_S1 | ||
| Preparation protocol DOI * | The DOI for the protocols.io page that details the assay or the procedures used for sample procurement and preparation. For example, in the case of an imaging assay, the protocol may start with tissue section staining and end with the generation of an OME-TIFF file. The documented protocol should also include any image processing steps involved in producing the final OME-TIFF. Example: https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.eq2lyno9qvx9/v1 | ||
| Dataset type * | The specific type of dataset being produced. Example: RNAseq | HiFi-Slide SNARE-seq2 COMET Visium (no probes) DESI Confocal Stereo-seq Visium (with probes) Molecular Cartography Virtual Histology DBiT-seq Seq-Scope CosMx Transcriptomics CyCIF Light Sheet seqFISH ATACseq CosMx Proteomics Singular Genomics G4X Visium HD MERFISH 10X Multiome 4i PhenoCycler Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) Thick section Multiphoton MxIF CyTOF Olink MIBI Auto-fluorescence FACS Xenium SIMS Cell DIVE CODEX GeoMx (NGS) MUSIC Pixel-seqV2 MALDI 2D Imaging Mass Cytometry Histology Enhanced Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy (SRS) DART-FISH Resolve RNAseq LC-MS nanoSPLITS GeoMx (nCounter) RNAseq (with probes) MS Lipidomics MPLEx |
|
| Analyte class * | The analyte class which is the target molecule that the assay is measuring. Example: DNA | DNA + RNA Nucleic acid + protein Chromatin RNA + protein RNA Metabolite Unsaturated lipid Lipid + metabolite Saturated lipid Lipid Protein Fluorochrome Collagen DNA Peptide Polysaccharide Endogenous fluorophore |
|
| Is targeted? * | Indicates whether a specific molecule or set of molecules is targeted for detection or measurement by the assay. Example: Yes | Yes No |
|
| Acquisition instrument vendor * | The company that manufactures or supplies the acquisition instrument. An acquisition instrument is a device equipped with signal detection hardware and signal processing software. It captures signals produced by assays, such as variations in light intensity or color, or signals corresponding to molecular mass. If the instrument was custom-built or developed internally, enter “In-House”. Example: Illumina | BGI Genomics Cytiva Thermo Fisher Scientific Zeiss Microscopy Complete Genomics 3DHISTECH GE Healthcare Leica Microsystems Akoya Biosciences NanoString Element Biosciences Andor Huron Digital Pathology Illumina Ionpath In-House Resolve Biosciences Singular Genomics Vizgen Standard BioTools (Fluidigm) Sciex Bruker Evident Scientific (Olympus) Keyence Leica Biosystems Cytek Biosciences 10x Genomics Microscopes International Hamamatsu Motic |
|
| Acquisition instrument model * | The specific model of the acquisition instrument, as manufacturers often offer various versions with differing features or sensitivities. These differences may be relevant to the processing or interpretation of the data. If the instrument was custom-built or developed internally, enter “In-House”. If the model is unknown, enter “Unknown”. Example: HiSeq 4000 | SCN400 STELLARIS 5 BZ-X710 Pannoramic MIDI II Digital Scanner Not applicable MoticEasyScan One EVOS M7000 NovaSeq X NanoZoomer 2.0-HT timsTOF Ultra 2 Lightsheet 7 Phenocycler-Fusion 1.0 DNBSEQ-T7 timsTOF Pro Unknown AVITI timsTOF Pro 2 Q Exactive UHMR Q Exactive timsTOF SCP Zyla 4.2 sCMOS Helios uScopeHXII-20 Custom: Multiphoton QTRAP 5500 timsTOF Ultra BZ-X800 CyTOF 2 G4X Spatial Sequencer NextSeq 500 NanoZoomer S360 Hyperion Imaging System NovaSeq X Plus CyTOF XT NanoZoomer-SQ NextSeq 550 Axio Zoom.V16 Digital Spatial Profiler timsTOF FleX timsTOF FleX MALDI-2 NanoZoomer S210 BZ-X810 Axio Observer 7 Cytek Northern Lights IN Cell Analyzer 2200 timsTOF HT PhenoImager Fusion DM6 B Phenocycler-Fusion 2.0 Aperio CS2 Orbitrap Fusion Lumos Tribrid Resolve Biosciences Molecular Cartography MALDI timsTOF Flex Prototype TissueScope LE Slide Scanner VS200 Slide Scanner Axio Observer 5 Axio Observer 3 HiSeq 2500 Orbitrap Eclipse Tribrid Cell DIVE MERSCOPE NextSeq 2000 NovaSeq 6000 In-House HiSeq 4000 solariX Panoramic 150 Digital Scanner Aperio AT2 MIBIscope Biomark HD NanoZoomer S60 CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager MERSCOPE Ultra Axio Scan.Z1 Juno System Q Exactive HF Xenium Analyzer |
|
| Source storage duration value * | The length of time the sample was stored prior to processing it. For assays performed on tissue sections, this refers to how long the tissue section (e.g., slide) was stored before the assay began (e.g., imaging). For assays performed on suspensions, such as sequencing, it refers to how long the suspension was stored before library construction started. Example: 12 | ||
| Source storage duration unit * | The unit of measurement used to specify the source storage duration value. Example: hour | hour month year day minute |
|
| Time since acquisition instrument calibration value | The length of time since the acquisition instrument was last serviced or calibrated. This provides a metric for assessing drift in data capture. Example: 10 | ||
| Time since acquisition instrument calibration unit | The unit of measurement used to specify the time since acquisition instrument calibration value. Example: month | month year day |
|
| Contributors path * | The name of the file containing the ORCID IDs for all contributors to this dataset. Example: ./contributors.csv | ||
| Data path * | The top-level directory containing the raw and/or processed data. For a single dataset upload, this might be represented as “.”, whereas for a data upload containing multiple datasets, this would be the directory name for the respective dataset. For example, if the data is within a directory named “TEST001-RK”, use the syntax “./TEST001-RK” for this field. If there are multiple directory levels, use the format “./TEST001-RK/Run1/Pass2”, where “Pass2” is the subdirectory where the single dataset’s data is stored. This is an internal metadata field used solely for data ingestion. Example: ./TEST001-RK | ||
| Metadata schema ID * | The unique string identifier for the metadata specification version, which is easily interpretable by computers for purposes of data validation and processing. Example: 22bc762a-5020-419d-b170-24253ed9e8d9 |
Definitions
| Pattern | Required? | Description |
|---|---|---|
| extras/ | ✓ | Folder for general lab-specific files related to the dataset. |
| raw/ | ✓ | This is a directory containing raw data. |
| raw/dbit_seq/ | This is a directory containing raw data exclusive to DBiT-seq. | |
| lab_processed/ | ✓ | Experiment files that were processed by the lab generating the data. |
| lab_processed/dbit_seq/ | Experiment files that were processed by the lab generating the data exclusive to DBiT-seq. |
Example
.
├── extras/
├── raw/
│ └── dbit_seq/
└── lab_processed/
└── dbit_seq/
HuBMAP Datasets
The HuBMAP Data Portal is an open platform to discover, visualize, and download standardized healthy single-cell and spatial tissue data.
View HuBMAP Datasets
Citation
Fisher SA, Hardi J, Morgan R, Nordgren E, Kant PM, Honick B, Rosario J, O'Connor MJ, Turner ML, DCWG Members, Gehlenborg N, Blood PD, Silverstein JC, Musen MA. 2026. The HuBMAP Framework for Advancing Data FAIRness. submitted. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.06.01.728946
Reuse
This standard may be reused, expanded, or referenced by external repositories. It represents version 2.0 of the metadata schema and version 2.0 of the file directory structure. If you are uploading data, the latest versions of both are available at the "Latest Versions" link below. If you are querying or using HuBMAP or SenNet metadata, a harmonized view of the metadata specification is available at the "Harmonized Version" link below.
Latest Versions Harmonized Version
Contributors
Below is the information for the individuals who contributed to the HuBMAP and SenNet metadata reporting standards.
For questions about this standard, email HuBMAP Helpdesk. You can alternatively reach out to the individuals listed below, either via the email address listed in the table or via contact information provided on their ORCID profile page.
| Name | Affiliation | Contact | ORCID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen A Fisher | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA | safisher@upenn.edu | 0000-0001-8034-7685 |
| Josef Hardi | Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | johardi@stanford.edu | 0000-0002-2533-6681 |
| Richard Morgan | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | rsm66@pitt.edu | 0009-0003-1800-8545 |
| Mark A Musen | Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | musen@stanford.edu | 0000-0003-3325-793X |
| Jonathan C Silverstein | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | j.c.s@pitt.edu | 0000-0002-9252-6039 |
| Erik Nordgren | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA | 0000-0002-5024-0278 | |
| Peter M Kant | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Currently - Otsuka Precision Health, Princeton, NJ, USA | 0009-0002-6510-5041 | |
| Brendan John Honick | Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | 0000-0001-6128-9854 | |
| Martin J O’Connor | Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | 0000-0002-2256-2421 | |
| Jean G Rosario | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA | 0000-0002-6116-5058 | |
| Nils Gehlenborg | Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA | 0000-0003-0327-8297 | |
| Philip D Blood | Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | 0000-0002-9129-1223 | |
| Kyung Jin Ahn | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA | 0000-0002-4184-482X | |
| Christopher R Anderton | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA | 0000-0002-6170-1033 | |
| Shovik Bandyopadhyay | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA | 0000-0003-3919-3914 | |
| Kenneth C Bedi | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA | 0000-0003-3588-9324 | |
| Maigan Brusko | University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA | 0000-0002-4331-2202 | |
| Martha Campbell-Thompson | University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA | 0000-0001-6878-1235 | |
| James Carson | The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA | 0000-0001-9009-5645 | |
| Chase M Carver | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA | 0000-0003-4002-2418 | |
| Jing Chen | University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA | 0000-0001-8008-8062 | |
| Anthony M Corbett | University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA | 0000-0001-9545-0853 | |
| Alexandra E Cuaycal | University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA | 0000-0002-9060-6326 | |
| Penny Cuda | Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | 0009-0002-6547-2650 | |
| Dinh Diep | University of California, San Diego, CA, USA; Currently - Altos Labs, San Diego, CA, USA | 0000-0001-6057-4119 | |
| Sergii Domanskyi | The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA | 0000-0002-6847-6019 | |
| Sean Donahue | Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | 0000-0002-4072-2046 | |
| Michael P Duffy | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA | 0000-0001-5325-3683 | |
| Michael T Eadon | Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA | 0000-0003-3066-2876 | |
| Jean Fan | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA | 0000-0002-0212-5451 | |
| Melissa A Farrow | Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA | 0000-0002-1602-2082 | |
| Kathleen M Fisch | University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA | 0000-0002-0117-7444 | |
| William F Flynn | The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA | 0000-0001-6533-0340 | |
| James M Fulcher | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA | 0000-0001-9033-3623 | |
| Soumya Ghose | GE HealthCare, Niskayuna, NY, USA | 0000-0002-2730-1482 | |
| Fiona Ginty | GE HealthCare, Niskayuna, NY, USA | 0000-0001-6638-683X | |
| Joana P Gonçalves | Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands | 0000-0001-6072-9627 | |
| Yongqun He | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA | 0000-0001-9189-9661 | |
| Po Hu | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA | 0000-0003-2422-1652 | |
| Sanjay Jain | Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA | 0000-0003-2804-127X | |
| Thomas V Karathanos | Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | 0000-0003-1754-3872 | |
| Madhurima Kaushal | Washington University School of Medicine | 0000-0003-2760-0586 | |
| Angela RS Kruse | Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; Currently - The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA | 0000-0001-8776-2769 | |
| Yumi Kwon | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA | 0000-0003-0523-6197 | |
| Blue B Lake | University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Currently - Altos Labs, San Diego, CA, USA | 0000-0002-8637-9044 | |
| Roy Lardenoije | Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands | 0000-0002-9026-7870 | |
| Shin Lin | Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA | 0000-0003-0118-0413 | |
| Yiing Lin | Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA | 0000-0002-0317-7608 | |
| Scott A Lindsay | University of California, San Diego, CA, USA | 0000-0002-2929-7755 | |
| Peiran Lu | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA | 0009-0001-5096-3046 | |
| Clayton Mathews | University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA | 0000-0002-8817-6355 | |
| Elizabeth McDonough | GE HealthCare, Niskayuna, NY, USA | 0000-0001-7524-8260 | |
| Ricardo Melo Ferreira | Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA | 0000-0003-2063-9744 | |
| Emma M Monte | Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | 0000-0003-2566-1967 | |
| Kathleen O’Neill | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA | 0000-0003-1980-6840 | |
| Minxing Pang | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA | 0000-0001-5208-5972 | |
| Mana Parast | University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA | 0000-0001-5963-2246 | |
| Liming Pei | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA | 0000-0002-1924-0333 | |
| Samuel Peters | University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA | 0000-0003-1479-8087 | |
| Ajay Pillai | National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA | 0000-0002-9789-7189 | |
| Gloria Pryhuber | University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA | 0000-0002-9185-3994 | |
| Ling Qin | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA | 0000-0002-2582-0078 | |
| Presha Rajbhandari | Columbia University, NYC, NY, USA | 0000-0003-2184-7238 | |
| Matthew M Ruffalo | Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | 0000-0003-2222-6169 | |
| Pinaki Sarder | University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA | 0000-0003-2450-5233 | |
| Diane C Saunders | Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA | 0000-0002-8849-6746 | |
| Kevin Schneider | Buck Institute, Novato, CA, USA | 0009-0001-8046-0167 | |
| Lingyan Shi | University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA | 0000-0003-1373-3206 | |
| Santhosh Sivajothi | The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA | 0000-0002-8854-4517 | |
| David Smith | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA | 0000-0001-7858-3785 | |
| Jeff M Spraggins | Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA | 0000-0001-9198-5498 | |
| Valentina Stanley | University of California, San Diego, CA, USA | 0000-0002-2212-7796 | |
| Kai Tan | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA | 0000-0002-9104-5567 | |
| Anusha Thadi | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA | 0000-0002-1271-0398 | |
| Hua Tian | Columbia University Medical Center, NYC, NY, USA | 0000-0002-3598-0219 | |
| Morgan L Turner | Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA | 0000-0002-1512-9742 | |
| Ioannis S Vlachos | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Cancer Center, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston, MA, USA | 0000-0002-8849-808X | |
| Seth Winfree | University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; Currently - QCDx Inc, Farmington, CT, USA | ||
| Pei-Hsun Wu | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA | 0000-0002-7371-2960 | |
| Kevin J Zemaitis | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA | 0000-0002-3524-9776 | |
| Mowei Zhou | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA; Currently - Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China | 0000-0003-3575-3224 | |
| Chenchen Zhu | Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | 0000-0003-2165-9456 |
